Archive for the ‘General Assembly’ Category

Jean Leising, a former Republican State Senator who served from 1988 to 1996 and 9th CD congressional candidate, wants her old senate seat back.  The feeling appears to be mutual with former constituents and business leaders alike.  In a four way primary to replace the retiring Bob Jackman (R, SD 42), Leising holds a commanding lead in polls against her other challengers.  And to top it off the Indiana Chamber of Commerce PAC (IBRG) has given their endorsement to Leising. on top of the endorsement she already received from the Farm Bureau.

So far, this looks like a seat the Republican controlled Senate should have no fear of losing.  In fact, it looks like a familiar face will most likely be returning.

Nathan commented in Scott’s “Winner” post earlier that no one is talking about losers in the property tax deal. Well the Star may ignore them, but the panel on Indiana Week in Review sure didn’t.

(H/T - Frugal Hoosiers)

Mitch Daniels should probably be in there somewhere, too.

Of course, don’t tell the angry sociopath at One North Capitol that her party’s highest-ranking person in state government–and pretty much all of her party’s representatives in the House–voted for property tax reform.

The more effort is expected attacking the reform package, driven by foolish knee-jerk reactions and blind hatred of the Governor, the more some Democrats are attacking others of their own party at the same time.

It is not for nothing that both The Hair and the Governor have generally been perceived as coming out of the General Assembly session as winners by pundits ranging from Abdul to Jim Shella.

Brian Howey has commented on the disconnect:

(Read more after the leap) (more…)

Last week, Hoosier Access broke the story of State Representative Jim Buck getting the endorsement of the Indiana State Chamber PAC to replace State Senator Jeff Drozda after he officially resigns in May. Today, the State Chamber made it official with the following press release.

INDIANA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ENDORSES
REP. JIM BUCK FOR STATE SENATE

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the state’s leading small business and business advocacy organization, announced today its endorsement of Rep. Jim Buck (R - Kokomo, HD38) for election to the Indiana Senate, District 21. Buck is running in the Republican caucus election to fill the remainder of retiring Sen. Jeff Drozda’s term. The endorsement was made by Indiana Business for Responsive Government (IBRG), the political action division of the Indiana Chamber.

(Read more about the Chamber’s endorsement below the fold.) (more…)

After the Governor’s presser, and the usual round of retirement speeches and wide arrays of legislative mutual congratulations, your humble correspondent had a chance to sit down with Chris Mann of Veritas Rex and Josh Gillespie of Hoosier Access to talk with Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman.

Photos of the event are available here.

More after the leap.
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As you’ve probably been able to tell, Scott Fluhr of Hoosier Pundit and here at Hoosier Access, Christopher Mann of Veritas Rex and I were allowed to crash Lt. Governor Skillman’s office to live blog the last day of the session. I’m not sure about Chris, but Scott and I arrived after the property tax legislation had passed. The immigration bill had died as of Thursday, so all of the “sexy legislation” had passed by the time we got there. But we didn’t leave till we got some nifty pictures taken and some time spent with Lt. Governor Skillman. Many thanks to Lt. Gov. Skillman, her Chief of Staff Chris Crabtree and press secretary Angela Coats. Thanks guys!

Check out our actions shots from our time at the state house after the leap. (more…)

Your humble correspondent had the chance to be present in the Governor’s post-session media availability (thanks to the folks at the Lieutenant Governor’s office for hosting us, and for the Governor’s people for letting us participate downstairs).

The big phrase for the press conference was Indiana’s “new era of taxpayer protection” (it was only used a few dozen times); the beginning of a new era of reform and so forth.

Daniels was big on touting the session as a significant accomplishment; a great example of how Hoosiers of both parties can come together to get things done.

This was a point he likewise underscored several times; to say nothing of getting done on-time and even ahead of schedule (I attribute this to the motivating power of basketball and the presence of the Big Ten Tournament in town).

(More after the leap) (more…)

Next week, the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce PAC will formally endorse Kokomo Republican State Rep. Jim Buck (HD-38) next week in his bid to replace current State Senator Jeff Drozda after he resigns in May.

Sources confirm a tip that was first sent to Hoosier Access yesterday that this will be the first time that the Chamber has made an endorsement like this before a caucus that replaces a Senator that has resigned.

More on this as it develops.

Barring any crazy antics by Speaker Bauer (which can never be ruled out), we have a deal…a compromise if you will, on the property tax crisis. And it does include a constitutional amendment. Time to celebrate this compromise.

I love that band!

Can anybody say, the end of the Short Session in the General Assembly? There are plenty of events on the schedule for Hoosier Access to cover, including a live blog of the closing hours of the General Assembly….that is if Pat Bauer doesn’t keep the Session from going into a Special Session as well as upcoming Hoosier Access Radio interviews with Lt. Governor Becky Skillman and 2nd CD candidate Luke Puckett. By the way, can anybody tell me why “The Hair” decided to not to bring the House into session all week when serious property tax reform needs to be passed? Does he want a special session to take place at tax payer expense? (Update - There’s been a compromise…Thank You!)

Anyway, the spotlight around here (being Indy) has been the 7th CD Special Election. With MC Juggernaut (aka Andre Carson) coming out victorious the battle for the Democrat primary has already begun in full force with David Orentlicher “officially” announcing yesterday, Woody Myers ready to run ads and Carolene Mays fundraising across the district. But this race has eight full weeks to percolate with fun stuff. My guess is, though, it won’t hardly take that long.

Let’s not forget that Indiana is actually going to mean something this year in presidential election. For starters, Barack Obama is gracing us with his empty message of “hope and change” (or maybe that was someone else’s message and he’s just “borrowing” it this year) this weekend. Oh to be a fly on the wall of his meetings with various super delegates. I can only imagine how many time disgraced former Democrat Governor and Hillary backing super-delagate of New York Elliot Spitzer will be brought up.

The thing is, the fun never stops around here, though we may pause to get some work done. Indiana’s most prominent conservative blog promises that! (Thanks TBB for the compliment!)

Senator Mike Delph (R) and Representative Vern Tincher (D) are working on a last minute compromise on immigration reform.  The Star has the story here.

Now that we’re in the final week of the General Assembly Session the stakes to find a solution to the property tax problem have increased.  For Hoosiers, the problem has always been the same: we’re watching our property tax bills go through the roof and we can’t afford that.  For Republicans at the Statehouse the problem has been finding a plan that provides immediate relief and leaves open the possibility of future, and more extensive reform, if revenues allow for it (here I am referring to the House GOP Caucus’ plan in January to try and eliminate residential property taxes, a goal that the Governor has said he supports for down the road).  For Democrats the plan has always been the same: help create the problem, then let the Republicans try to develop a solution, and then come back with your own “solution” when it’s too late. 

A few weeks ago we had the Democrats advocating a half-baked solution of indexing property tax caps to personal incomes.  Then in the past few days the Democrats unveiled a new plan (after the Republicans brought forward their compromise) that takes the Governor’s one percent cap on residential property and one percent sales tax increase and pretty much strips everything else away.  The referendums, gone; the cap on local spending, gone; the constitutional caps on property tax rates; gone.  The Democratic “plan” really amounts to a stripped down version of what Republicans have already brought forward.

Now the question is whether or not Speaker Bauer and his fellow caucus members will actually compromise on their “plan” and support the true compromise put forward by Republicans.  If the General Assembly fails to pass property tax reform before the end of the session at the end of this week, then Governor Daniels has raised the possibility of a special session.  I can’t imagine legislators, especially those facing primary races, enjoying being called back to finish the work they failed to do. 

Update: Brian Howey on Saturday posted a piece on property taxes that was not to friendly to Democrats.